Williams was born in San Diego, California Teddy Samuel Williams in honor of Teddy Roosevelt (he later changed his name to Theodore) and is hailed as one of the finest hitters to have ever played the game. His two MVP Awards and two Triple Crowns came in different years. He is one of only two players (the other being Rogers Hornsby[?]) to have won the Triple Crown twice.

In 1941, he came to the last game of the season with a batting average of .3996, which would be rounded up to .400 and thus make Williams the first man to hit .400 since Bill Terry[?] in 1930. Given the option by his manager, Williams opted to play and risk losing his record. He got 4 hits in 6 at bats, raising his season average to .406. No one has hit .400 since. This achievement was overshadowed at the time by Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak. Their rivalry was accentuated by the press, but he and DiMaggio apparently agreed that Williams was the better hitter and DiMaggio the better all-round player.

He lacked foot speed, as attested by his career 24 steals, one inside-the-park home run, and one occasion of hitting the cycle. He felt that with more speed he could have raised his average considerably. He was an ordinary fielder.

Williams served in the military as a US Marine pilot during both World War II and the Korean War (serving in the same unit as John Glenn during the latter). These absences in the prime of career significantly reduced his totals.

A very public dispute over the disposition of Williams' body between family members was waged after his death. His son, John Henry Williams, wanted to have the body frozen and stored in a cryonics facility and his daughter, Barbara Joyce Williams Ferrell, wanted her father's body cremated citing Williams' 1996 will. Ferrell stated that her half brother had taken the body from a funeral home in Florida and delivered it to Alcor Life Extension Foundation[?], a provider of cryonics services in Scottsdale, Arizona. Several of his friends confirmed that Williams wished to be cremated and his will stated an intention to have his ashes dispersed along the Florida Keys[?] where he loved to fish. His daughter also alleged that her brother previously expressed an intention to sell genetic material taken from their father for the purposes of cloning the "Splendid Splinter". However, her siblings stated that they, along with Williams, signed a handwritten pact in November 2000 agreeing that their bodies would be frozen after they died. The dispute was resolved on December 20, 2002 when Ferrell withdrew her objections after a judge agreed that a $645,000 trust would be distributed equally among the Williams' siblings.